Diablo 3 is confirmed for 15 May

VIDEO GAMES HOUSE Blizzard Entertainment will release the next installment of its Diablo series, Diablo III on 15 May.

The PC release could see some people phoning in sick that day, as the previous titles have been rather good and this one looks very interesting indeed. It has also been a long time coming.

Blizzard will launch the game in the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

Other locations such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil will be offered digital copies, while other Latin American countries and Russia will get to see what the fuss is all about on 7 June.

"After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we're now in the homestretch," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment.

"We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15."

Diablo III will be available for Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Mac. Typically for this sort of title you can buy a vanilla version or one that includes a DVD about the making of the game, a CD soundtrack, a 4GB USB stick, a book and some exclusive downloadable content.

Players get a choice of five characters in the game - barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter - and must indulge in what is called an epic quest. µ